Research published in today's issue of Science attempts to decipher the unique number-writing system of the Inca people.

Two Harvard University researchers analyzed 21 khipus, or assemblages of string and knots. They say the khipus represent an accounting system that allowed decisions to be passed between regional centers and the capital of the Inca civilization.

The researchers also suspect khipus were used as a method of writing Quechua, the Inca language that is still spoken today, but they are still trying to find more clues.

Get the Story:
Researchers Think They've Got the Incas' Numbers (The Los Angeles Times 8/12)
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Relevant Links:
Science - http://www.sciencemag.org
String, and Knot, Theory of Inca Writing - http://www.ee.ryerson.ca:8080/~elf/abacus/inca-khipu.html